After some reflection, I've decided to delete my account on Facebook. I'd like to encourage you to do the same. This is part altruism and part selfish. The altruism part is that I think Facebook, as a company, is unethical. The selfish part is that I'd like my own social network to migrate away from Facebook so that I'm not missing anything. In any event, here's my "Top Ten" reasons for why you should join me and many others and delete your account.
10. Facebook's Terms Of Service are completely one-sided

Let's start with the basics. Facebook's Terms Of Service state that not only do they own your data (section 2.1), but if you don't keep it up to date and accurate (section 4.6), they can terminate your account (section 14). You could argue that the terms are just protecting Facebook's interests, and are not in practice enforced, but in the context of their other activities, this defense is pretty weak. As you'll see, there's no reason to give them the benefit of the doubt. Essentially, they see their customers as unpaid employees for crowd-sourcing ad-targeting data.
9. Facebook's CEO has a documented history of unethical behavior

From the very beginning of Facebook's existence, there are questions about Zuckerberg's ethics. According to BusinessInsider.com, he used Facebook user data to guess email passwords and read personal email in order to discredit his rivals. These allegations, albeit unproven and somewhat dated, nonetheless raise troubling questions about the ethics of the CEO of the world's largest social network. They're particularly compelling given that Facebook chose to fork over $65M to settle a related lawsuit alleging that Zuckerberg had actually stolen the idea for Facebook.
8. Facebook has flat out declared war on privacy

Founder and CEO of Facebook, in defense of Facebook's privacy changes last January: "People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time." More recently, in introducing the Open Graph API: "... the default is now social." Essentially, this means Facebook not only wants to know everything about you, and own that data, but to make it available to everybody. Which would not, by itself, necessarily be unethical, except that ...
7. Facebook is pulling a classic bait-and-switch

At the same time that they're telling developers how to access your data with new APIs, they are relatively quiet about explaining the implications of that to members. What this amounts to is a bait-and-switch. Facebook gets you to share information that you might not otherwise share, and then they make it publicly available. Since they are in the business of monetizing information about you for advertising purposes, this amounts to tricking their users into giving advertisers information about themselves. This is why Facebook is so much worse than Twitter in this regard: Twitter has made only the simplest (and thus, more credible) privacy claims and their customers know up front that all their tweets are public. It's also why the FTC is getting involved, and people are suing them (and winning).

Check out this excellent timeline from the EFF documenting the changes to Facebook's privacy policy.
6. Facebook is a bully

When Pete Warden demonstrated just how this bait-and-switch works (by crawling all the data that Facebook's privacy settings changes had inadvertently made public) they sued him. Keep in mind, this happened just before they announced the Open Graph API and stated that the "default is now social." So why sue an independent software developer and fledgling entrepreneur for making data publicly available when you're actually already planning to do that yourself? Their real agenda is pretty clear: they don't want their membership to know how much data is really available. It's one thing to talk to developers about how great all this sharing is going to be; quite another to actually see what that means in the form of files anyone can download and load into MatLab.
5. Even your private data is shared with applications

At this point, all your data is shared with applications that you install. Which means now you're not only trusting Facebook, but the application developers, too, many of whom are too small to worry much about keeping your data secure. And some of whom might be even more ethically challenged than Facebook. In practice, what this means is that all your data - all of it - must be effectively considered public, unless you simply never use any Facebook applications at all. Coupled with the OpenGraph API, you are no longer trusting Facebook, but the Facebook ecosystem.
4. Facebook is not technically competent enough to be trusted

Even if we weren't talking about ethical issues here, I can't trust Facebook's technical competence to make sure my data isn't hijacked. For example, their recent introduction of their "Like" button makes it rather easy for spammers to gain access to my feed and spam my social network. Or how about this gem for harvesting profile data? These are just the latest of a series of Keystone Kops mistakes, such as accidentally making users' profiles completely public, or the cross-site scripting hole that took them over two weeks to fix. They either don't care too much about your privacy or don't really have very good engineers, or perhaps both.
3. Facebook makes it incredibly difficult to truly delete your account

It's one thing to make data public or even mislead users about doing so; but where I really draw the line is that, once you decide you've had enough, it's pretty tricky to really delete your account. They make no promises about deleting your data and every application you've used may keep it as well. On top of that, account deletion is incredibly (and intentionally) confusing. When you go to your account settings, you're given an option to deactivate your account, which turns out not to be the same thing as deleting it. Deactivating means you can still be tagged in photos and be spammed by Facebook (you actually have to opt out of getting emails as part of the deactivation, an incredibly easy detail to overlook, since you think you're deleting your account). Finally, the moment you log back in, you're back like nothing ever happened! In fact, it's really not much different from not logging in for awhile. To actually delete your account, you have to find a link buried in the on-line help (by "buried" I mean it takes five clicks to get there). Or you can just click here. Basically, Facebook is trying to trick their users into allowing them to keep their data even after they've "deleted" their account.
2. Facebook doesn't (really) support the Open Web

The so-called Open Graph API is named so as to disguise its fundamentally closed nature. It's bad enough that the idea here is that we all pitch in and make it easier than ever to help Facebook collect more data about you. It's bad enough that most consumers will have no idea that this data is basically public. It's bad enough that they claim to own this data and are aiming to be the one source for accessing it. But then they are disingenuous enough to call it "open," when, in fact, it is completely proprietary to Facebook. You can't use this feature unless you're on Facebook. A truly open implementation would work with whichever social network we prefer, and it would look something like OpenLike. Similarly, they implement just enough of OpenID to claim they support it, while aggressively promoting a proprietary alternative, Facebook Connect.
1. The Facebook application itself sucks

Between the farms and the mafia wars and the "top news" (which always guesses wrong - is that configurable somehow?) and the myriad privacy settings and the annoying ads (with all that data about me, the best they can apparently do is promote dating sites, because, uh, I'm single) and the thousands upon thousands of crappy applications, Facebook is almost completely useless to me at this point. Yes, I could probably customize it better, but the navigation is ridiculous, so I don't bother. (And, yet, somehow, I can't even change colors or apply themes or do anything to make my page look personalized.) Let's not even get into how slowly your feed page loads. Basically, at this point, Facebook is more annoying than anything else.

And apparently they have sites dedicated to the same cause.
Personally I used to have a FB account but had it deleted when everyone I know started making an account. I didn't want to share information and pics with just about everyone I know. Plus there were people I wanted to avoid and they could have access one way or another. Now I only have an account that I don't use, just in case I want to check something out. I had it created a year ago and I never used it, until 2 days ago to see if it was still up. Next morning I had 3 requests to add as friends (my sister and 2 friends). I freaked out, because with 5 minutes spent in my account immediately my profile was sent as recommended to these 3 people and I still don't know why or how...

What about you? Do you have an account? Are you keeping it? Are you deleting it? Do you think that FB is really dangerous?

And a site I found....
http://www.quitfacebookday.com/

Mermaidman

15-05-10, 18:19

Deleted mine ages ago too boring...

sick of self indulgant fools saying

Joe Bloggs :"Im really upset"

Friend: "Why?"

Joe Bloggs "nowt hun x"

why the hell do people do that? lol why say your upset in the fist place:D

Alpharaider47

15-05-10, 18:19

You know, I think I'm just going to keep my account, because not only do I still have contact with people I know from my old school on there, but also because I know that if somebody really wanted my information, they would find a way to get it. It really doesn't bug me too much tbh, I don't put much info on there, and I'm not likely to change it all the time or keep it up to date.

silver_wolf

15-05-10, 18:28

I really don't have any problems with facebook, but I'm not on a lot. I think those things apply more to people who have a second life on FB than people who use it casually. And it's nice to stay in contact with people.

I joined Facebook when I was in college and it was exclusive to college students (you had to have a college-issued e-mail to get on). I got frustrated as it added more and more crap, and I ended up deactivating my account shortly after I graduated (didn't realize it was possible to actually delete it, although I would have done that if I had known). Now my college e-mail doesn't work anymore so I couldn't reactivate my account even if I wanted to :p

CiaKonwerski

15-05-10, 19:06

Can someone please tell me where the button is to delete an account? Been wanting to for a while now anyway.

young Lara Croft

15-05-10, 19:08

made a FB account just because I was talking to somebody online , and I also got an invite but I neglected and left it but not deleted. I made another one and this time added only my colleagues but I'm not an addict so I'm only keeping it for my contacts ... generally I hate social networks!

Tony9595

15-05-10, 19:08

Meh... I really don't worry about that. I know no one will come and kidnap me or tear me apart and sell my body piece by piece. I do not share really private information other than the place were I study but then again... it's a small city where no one is really important.

I'll keep it :hug:

Thanks for the info though :tmb:

Catracoth

15-05-10, 19:08

Facebook has really been taking the mick out of social networking...I would delete mine, but MySpace is so ghetto and obsolete; Facebook is more popular and current and professional in a sense...I would be disconnected from the world should I delete my account.

No thanks...not yet anyway.

RAID

15-05-10, 19:10

Can someone please tell me where the button is to delete an account? Been wanting to for a while now anyway.
Click on account on the top right side of the screen. Select account settings and find deactivate account at the bottom of the list :)

CiaKonwerski

15-05-10, 19:10

I want to actually DELETE it, not deactivate it.

Edit; Figured out how to. Go to this link if you wish to actually DELETE your account. :D
http://www.deletefacebook.com/

RAID

15-05-10, 19:21

...OK

xcrushterx

15-05-10, 19:23

Click on account on the top right side of the screen. Select account settings and find deactivate account at the bottom of the list :)

Did you even read the article? :p

Uzi master

15-05-10, 19:30

Sounds like some interenet geek trying to get people to come to his new sight by bashing facebook, who cares if they take informationm YOU put on the sight; if you are going to put something on a sight remember it's not like you can expect total privacy, unless you lie/don't put it on.

Minty Mouth

15-05-10, 19:31

Anything like this is doomed to fail. There are 800 dedicated quitters on the above linked website.

How about your full name? Home State? Home town? High School? College? Phone Numbers? Friends? Family? Significant other or other relationship individual? Being bombarded by ad's because Facebook allows companies to spam you based on your personal interests listed in your profile? How about the fact that Facebook retains all your personal information even though you deleted it? All of your personal information can be found through Google if the right keywords are typed in thanks to Facebook making it all public?

The list goes on and on. Does none of that bother you?

tonyme

15-05-10, 20:41

I won't close my account. I love Facebook, it keeps me close to everyone I know!

Dina_Croft

15-05-10, 20:47

I'm not proud but I use facebook..a lot...

Did you know that Greece is the Europian country that uses facebook the most? 65% Of greek people uses facebook.

:/ Yeah I'm not deleting mah facebook though. lowlz.

]{eith

15-05-10, 21:07

Deleted my Faceplace ages ago. Just didn't care for it.

da tomb raider!

15-05-10, 21:12

I don't need to worry about any of this because I've never visited the Facebook website, let alone created an account there. :D

Chocola teapot

15-05-10, 21:18

I hate facebook!

I wish I could delete mine.

Lavinder

15-05-10, 21:29

How about your full name? Home State? Home town? High School? College? Phone Numbers? Friends? Family? Significant other or other relationship individual? Being bombarded by ad's because Facebook allows companies to spam you based on your personal interests listed in your profile? How about the fact that Facebook retains all your personal information even though you deleted it? All of your personal information can be found through Google if the right keywords are typed in thanks to Facebook making it all public?

The list goes on and on. Does none of that bother you?

So?

I have to give my information away to loads of companies anyway and the government whom all cannot be trusted.

Everyone who lives on my street, or has seen me entering my door knows where I live. Also I don't give a monkeys if people know who my friends are, and what result I got in the latest quiz, or that I 'liked' something.

I don't put my full address or phone number on to Facebook, so that would make it even harder for them to find me.

And as for identity theft, I can never seem to go anywhere without whipping out a tonne of identity documents such as birth certificates and National Insurance Number - so I don't know how they're gonna grab a hold of those!

Agent 47

15-05-10, 21:31

i don't need 10 reasons to delete mine :vlol: but these would constitute as reasons to do so.

#1, contacts who send you "group" invites when you aren't interested (i'm looking at you Larson) :ton: :D

#2, friend requests from folks you don't even know

#3, friend suggestions for folks you don't know

#4, group suggestions for stuff you couldn't care less about

#5, relatives who annoy the hell out of you

1, Mr G does not join groups
2/3, Mr G does not accept requests from folks he doesn't know or want to know
4, Mr G likes specific things and still won't join groups
5, Mr G does not like 96% of his relatives
:D

ECB

15-05-10, 22:22

I'm way to addicted to FaceBook. They brainwashed me long ago haha. I have Facebook on my phone, ipod, and computer. I'm too sucked in. :(

CiaKonwerski

15-05-10, 22:33

I hate facebook!

I wish I could delete mine.

www.deletefacebook.com

IceColdLaraCroft

15-05-10, 22:34

A lot of friends I don't get to see/talk to other wise are on it and that's why I use it. I post photos for them to see and have my privacy settings set where I want them.

I'm not stupid enough to post my address or phone number. If I don't know someone I'm not going to approve a request, I don't use their applications and while I have in the past deleted my account it's serving a purpose now.

The founder might be a complete :cen: but I don't see anyone else trying to create an alternative.

Kelly Craftman

15-05-10, 22:40

A lot of friends I don't get to see/talk to other wise are on it and that's why I use it. I post photos for them to see and have my privacy settings set where I want them.

I'm not stupid enough to post my address or phone number. If I don't know someone I'm not going to approve a request, I don't use their applications and while I have in the past deleted my account it's serving a purpose now.

The founder might be a complete :cen: but I don't see anyone else trying to create an alternative.
+1 :tmb:

spikejones

15-05-10, 23:10

I actually quit using facebook for a long time back when they started making everyone's profiles to be private so you couldnt see their photos. That just took all the fun out of it :(. Of course I started using it again here lately since a lot of my family started using it. The only thing that really bugs me about facebook is the ads, since I can't get rid of them no matter how many times I click the X. So I just quit bothering with them. I don't use the applications anymore, they're just retarded.
I joined Facebook when I was in college and it was exclusive to college students (you had to have a college-issued e-mail to get on).

same here.. as far as when I joined. I had assumed at the time it was going to be a social spot for college students exclusively. and then everyone and their mother started joining. lol my college issued email is still the one tied to the account as my log in, but the notifications get sent to my active one.

Chocola teapot

15-05-10, 23:22

www.deletefacebook.com

I... I can't do it! D:

Legend 4ever

15-05-10, 23:31

I don't see anything better out there but Facebook, so I can't delete it. I've had it for 2 years now and I found old friends, people I thought I would never see again just because of Facebook. Myspace sucks IMo because it's shiny, glittery, people add everyone and I just got bored with it. Facebook is clean, clear, easy to manage and there are more people, therefore more possiblity to find people you once knew but lost contact with.

xXx Natla xXx

15-05-10, 23:35

I don't really have much of a problem with Facebook. I wasn't really wild about it, it's rather boring, but... I'm not really worried about my information. If someone wanted it bad enough, they would get it. So. It'll be okay. I almost never ever get on anymore.

IceColdLaraCroft

15-05-10, 23:46

If it were stamped "Natla Technologies" I'd delete it.

Paddy

16-05-10, 01:47

If you aint dumb enough to have your address and home number on your facebook and you dont use apps then there isnt a huge problem.
Just dont put crucial details on there. Cant believe some people put phone numbers and addresses on theirs lol.

Lizard of Oz

16-05-10, 02:06

It's not a big deal. It's not like I'm stupid and post my address or something

If it were for personal reasons alone, I might consider deleting my FB account. However, I need to network, it's absolutely imperitive for me. As a Ubisoft intern and aspiring comic book artist, getting the big jobs in the industry requires knowing the right people. I have met a lot of big names at PAX East, and I will meet more if I go to E3 or Comicon (or hopefully both :D) this year. This is how I maintain contact with them and meet new people.

That's why I keep my FB. I've shortened my last name and do not have anything too personal on there. It's all good!

Draco

16-05-10, 03:23

The bottom line is, FaceBook only knows what you tell it.

Tombraiderx08

16-05-10, 03:31

Yeahh... imma keep my facebook :)

AmericanAssassin

16-05-10, 03:40

My Facebook page is a major part of my life. It's how I keep in touch with people. Until a new networking site comes out that's worth my time, I'm keeping my Facebook. Heck, I'll probably still keep it. I still check my MySpace occasionally.

Lara_Fan_33

16-05-10, 03:42

i love facebook! its perfect for socialising and i use it everyday, and besides im not stupid enough to have my really personal info on it so im keeping it :D

PoseidonsDeath

16-05-10, 04:07

Oh wow, I did not realize how dangerous FaceBook can be. I would delete my account if that wasn't often my only connection with people I know (Other than school). I wish we could all go back to Myspace or something. Although that's probably almost as dangerous. I'm not really sure I want Twitter to evolve anymore, because it might turn into something like that.

Melonie Tomb Raider

16-05-10, 04:24

The bottom line is, FaceBook only knows what you tell it.

This. :tmb:

sandygrimm

16-05-10, 07:27

Facebook has

More than 400 million active users
50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
People spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook

so try to convince them too :p

Ikas90

16-05-10, 07:53

I'm not going to delete my account. I think it's an over-the-top reaction.

I need to keep in contact with all the people that I love and care about. Facebook lets me do that easily. Privacy isn't a big concern. It's not like I'm going to die if someone knows my name or what I look like, or if my photos are sold in countries all over the world.

Mikky

16-05-10, 11:17

I have Facebook, but I hardly ever use it. :p I'm not gonna waste my time trying to quit. ;)

CerebralAssassin

16-05-10, 11:22

can't quit facebook.it's like crack :p

EgyptianSoul

16-05-10, 11:30

It's easy to stay out of these things when you're the kind of a person who absolutely hates the idea of "social networking". :)

Dark Lugia 2

16-05-10, 12:36

:rolleyes: Again another article saying to not go near facebook, probably because its so popular haha. I mean, that last point? 'the facebook application isn't good' oh please.
Google chrome's T&C states google can use your browsing info but do they? No. Just because Facebook can, doesnt mean it will. Obviously facebook has rights over all info inputted onto the site, who else would?

Facebook is a very good concept and a very good social networking site im. I'm on it all the time. Not dodgy at all - you CHOOSE whether or not you want to give personal info, and can remove it even after deciding. You dont even have to enter anything anywhere on facebook apart from your first & last name and email.

Lara Croft!

16-05-10, 12:38

The bottom line is, FaceBook only knows what you tell it.

And what other people say about you.

lunavixen

16-05-10, 13:39

i only have information on there on a need to know basis, i only use it to keep in touch with my old school friends and teachers

Joely-Moley

16-05-10, 14:41

Maybe this will stop people nagging me to get a facebook. :p

Antonio

16-05-10, 14:57

While I read this hours ago, later I was checking FB and somebody hack my profile!:confused: There were four people send me friend request which I don't know them, with my profile join in group Justin Timberlake and Canada and also send advertisement about Free Move Watch HD. WTF? Right away I erased all post which I didn't send and changed my password. Now I'm thinking to deactivate my profile.

Draco

16-05-10, 16:25

And what other people say about you.

True, the reason I created an FB account at all is because I didn't want to be Stan from Southpark.

Catapharact

16-05-10, 16:45

Time to add in the hilarious anicdote that my friend wrote on the subject of facebook networking and socializing:

And then there was Facebook.

By: Iyer Aditya

http://i42.************/4q04yf.jpg

Back in 1994, when I was 10, the world was being engulfed in a new fad. It was the cellular phone. We had a brick called Motorola D160. Back then it seemed compact, convinient and quite light. Then, in 1997, a laptop came into our household - an IBM Thinkpad. It was my father's work mule and was subject to constant porn-surfing by a certain thirteen-year old. I got my first Hotmail account a year later. And then something happened, there was a dip in this wave of information technology, my friends and I gave up on ICQ, Yahoo! and a plethora of other things. We went back to using phones.

It was bliss. 1998. We would call back and forth. There was a time when our parents would listen in, and we bloody well knew it. So, we would feed in wrong information and get our parents all worked up and worried. There was voice, tone, a personal touch. Much like writing letters, something that E-Cards will never be able to achieve. We actually remembered birthdays and we would call at twelve, one, wee hours of the morn. There was some romance to it. The romance was compounded by the fact that a compliment would have to be passed on, a blush would be felt, all through the cords of the telephone. A positive response, a negative response, a tear, it would all be crystal clear, it would all be as transparent as air. And we kids did it, we would pick up the phone, we would rob numbers, we would wait for calls. The inconvinience added to that extra beat which in turn pumped the veins with more love.

Of course, time has moved on. The world is a different place now. Just thirteen years have passed and we are able to talk without having to actually talk. Everyone is accessible all the time and for the times they are not, there's always Facebook. Facebook, the tumor in cyberspace that is there to rob the romance off every charmer, only to make a romantic out of everyone. Kids these days wait for their cellular phones, e-mails, Hi5, Friendster and Facebook, all at once. There is nothing special about a phone call anymore. There is nothing special about a letter. The minority that support letters and telephones are slowly changing with times, leaving true romantics in bodybags of lost love.

With lament comes quest. With a failed quest comes dissappointment. With dissappointment comes vagary. With vagary come vagabonds that look for the sign of her passage- a note, a message, her fading scent. But of course, you will not find any of it, because she has simply moved on a different Facebook.

Having said that, I do find the site uselfull interms of planning and attending formal events, key conferences and just plain staying in touch with very VERY close friends. Only recently have I encountered problems with unkown people sending me friend requests for no apparent reason other then just adding in friends which is irritating to say the least. If I don`t know you, I have no reason to add you in.

Lara Croft!

16-05-10, 17:24

True, the reason I created an FB account at all is because I didn't want to be Stan from Southpark.

That episode of South Park was so true... You should all watch it. It's called, YOU HAVE ZERO FRIENDS

www.southparkstudios.com

Love2Raid

16-05-10, 17:27

Never made an account and never will. :wve:

Survival

16-05-10, 21:57

The only reason I ever started with facebook was because of my webpage. I cancelled my account two months later. I canīt stand facebook.

Paddy

17-05-10, 01:36

I'm not going to delete my account. I think it's an over-the-top reaction.

I need to keep in contact with all the people that I love and care about. Facebook lets me do that easily. Privacy isn't a big concern. It's not like I'm going to die if someone knows my name or what I look like, or if my photos are sold in countries all over the world.
I dont think its over the top. People have their reasons for removing their accounts. I just wonder why the **** it keeps making me change my password just to sign in. Facebook is ****ed.

Twilight

20-05-10, 02:55

i just have it there to stay in contact with old friends. you know, it's actual purpose. not stupid games and endless updating. and i dont have a bunch of personal info in there. it's the internet, what do you expect, total security?

CiaKonwerski

20-05-10, 02:57

The only reason I made mine was so that I could get in touch with relatives and to add my friends (People I actually know) from school. So, yeah I put most of my general info up there. Deleted it the other day however because I was too addicted to it IMO lol.

Tommy123

20-05-10, 04:20

Facebook has really been taking the mick out of social networking...I would delete mine, but MySpace is so ghetto and obsolete; Facebook is more popular and current and professional in a sense...I would be disconnected from the world should I delete my account.

No thanks...not yet anyway.

could not agree more

Lenochka

20-05-10, 04:41

Yeah, I've read a few different times that Mark Zuckerberg is a real douche.

This (http://perezhilton.com/2010-05-18-facebook-thinks-you-are-a-dumbfk) for example lmao. The fact that it was posted on such a well known website and they didn't make a statement trying to deny it or anything is a bit strange.